Sexism affecting ‘almost every area’ of life for UK girls. US: Juan Williams: Dems now party of women.

Women in politics: a very suitable job The Guardian The women thing is back. Last week, the MP for Thanet, Laura Sandys,announced she had decided not to stand in 2015, citing the demands of the job and the conflict with responsibilities in her personal life. The news that a talented backbencher for whom promotion was often forecast was giving up was the cue for a familiar narrative, much of it intended to be sympathetic but all of it contributing to one impression. Politics is an unsuitable job for a woman. The rueful commentary suggested, among other things, that women could not handle life in parliament and that David Cameron had been mistaken to put such focus on recruiting them as part of his modernising agenda. So miserable was this handpicked cadre, according to one well-placed observer, that as many as a quarter of them might follow Ms Sandys into quieter pastures at the next general election. On these very pages, a writer suggested it was time for women to man up.

Entitled Equality for Girls, the report was compiled following a survey of over 1,200 girls and young women aged between seven and 21, and contains some unsettling statistics.

Girlguiding UK said they were “surprised and troubled” by the findings.

“We worry that issues that should only be read about in our history books are still commonplace. There is a danger that the freedoms and protections women have gained are being abandoned,” the organisation says in the foreward.

The majority of girls and young women report experiencing sexual harassment, with 70 per cent of 13-year-olds and 80 per cent of those aged 19 to 21.

The nature of the harassment included sexual jokes or taunts, being shouted at on the street, unwanted attention or touching and stalking.

Shared childcare leave for UK dads Independent Online London – Britain has announced the final details of a plan enabling couples to share parental leave after the birth of their child in a bid to help working mothers and give fathers more time with their children.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said that the proposals “challenge the old-fashioned assumption” that women should always be the parent that stays at home.

Working couples will be able to share any remaining leave and pay they have after the two-week recovery period mothers must take off after birth, according to details of the scheme published by the government.

At the moment, new mothers can take a maximum of 52 weeks off while fathers are entitled to two weeks of statutory paternity leave.

But, like dozens of other women, she took to the streets onNov. 25 to demand safe housing for women who have no place to go at night; no protection from the violence of the streets; and no refuge from the rigors of winter.

Hoping to jolt Torontonians out of complacency, Crowe and other homeless advocates highlighted the case of a young woman sleeping on the steps of Street Health, a non-profit agency that serves the homeless in one of the city’s poorest neighbourhoods. Between 4 and 5 a.m., she was sexually assaulted by two different men.

For the last half-century, women were swing voters between the parties. A gender gap emerged in the 1980s with single women leaning toward the Democrats on issues from abortion rights to national defense.

Over the last decade, Democrats have tried to widen the gap by charging the GOP with conducting a “War on Women.” There are several fronts in that war, Democrats say: Republicans oppose easy access to contraception, oppose abortion rights and oppose expansion of entitlements to help the poor (who are disproportionately women and children).

A 2012 Pew survey found that 57 percent of women favor Democrats. Young, single, gay, minority and pro-abortion-rights women have been with the party for a while. Older, white, married women lean to the GOP. But now married, churchgoing women living in cities are also voting for Democrats.

That explains why an October ABC/Fusion poll found 60 percent of Democrats want more women elected to Congress. Republicans do not see the need. Only 26 percent of conservatives and 23 percent of Republicans want more women in Congress.

We need more women at all levels of government New Hampshire Business Review Women make up more than half of the population in the United States, but only 20 percent of our U.S. senators are female. In the House, it is less than 18 …

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The UK Political Studies Association Women and Politics Specialist Group. Resource for researchers working on women and/or gender and for women in the PSA. The 2014 Specialist Group of the Year.
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